Pre-fashion week grooming

Bazaar's fashion features assistant visits FOUR London

<p>One of the biggest perks of working at a magazine is the ease with which one can find the best and most reliable beauty advice from right within the <em>Bazaar</em> team. And for my pre-fashion week treatments, I did just that. </p> <p><a href="http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/fashion/catwalk/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE FOR ALL <em>BAZAAR'S</em> LATEST FASHION MONTH COVERAGE</a></p> <p>First thing was first: my hair. It sees a pair of scissors on average once every two or three years and hasn’t been coloured for approximately five years. Not that I’m implying that hair <em>should</em> be coloured, mind you. But as mine strikes an uneasy balance between muddy brown and not-quite-black, it tends to veer towards the latter, meaning that no matter how much bronzer I apply, I still look washed out.</p> <p>So off I went with my <a href="http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/beauty-health/reviews/" target="_blank">beauty-team recommendation</a> to FOUR London, where the atmosphere is friendly and the founders are four women who between them boast over 40 years worth of colouring expertise (their thing is colour, you see, hence the recommendation).</p> <p><a href="http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/beauty-health/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE LATEST FROM <em>BAZAAR'S</em> BEAUTY TEAM</a></p> <p>As I sat in the chair chatting to Brooke (my hair colourist for the day) I listened attentively to the myths and truths about human hair and its mysterious ways whilst simultaneously having my talons painted an elegant rouge. Meanwhile, strands of my hair sat in foils as an image of some impeccably groomed woman stared back at me from Brooke’s iPad; her hair is part dark brown part almost-blonde but Brooke is using this as a guideline only. She prefers to do things gradually, she explains, rather than having clients shriek at the sight of their over-dyed hair; wisdom gained through years of experience, she says.</p><p><img src="/cm/harpersbazaaruk/images/kl/HAIR-CUT-mdn.jpg"style="float: left; margin-left: 34px; margin-right: 34px;"/></p> <p>Forty minutes later and it was time for the chop. Well, not so much of a chop as a little trim with some ‘layers to frame the face’. At FOUR London, every stylist specialises in one area – reassuring considering the numerous bad experiences I’ve had prior to this – and so it was onto Amy for a trim and blow dry. </p> <p>The result? Bouncy, shiny and subtly tonal hair worthy of the achingly well-groomed streets of New York. It’s certainly much, <em>much</em> healthier than it was two hours ago and Brooke’s done a wonderful – not to mention logical and considered – job. It has been a relief to be trusting of the person colouring my hair, I tell her. And just as I’m leaving, another stylist walks past and compliments Brooke on one of her client’s dye jobs earlier that day: a pregnant woman with blonde locks that were crying out for a bleach-vacation. Brooke had convinced her to go dark, explaining that this plus the hormones (that I can’t now recall the names of) would unite to give her a once-in-a-lifetime glow. I didn’t quite understand the math, but instead agreed and made a deal with myself to come back to FOUR London and next time, listen a little more intently. </p></div><br /><p><em>Written by Emma Shaw</em></p>

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